Canada just made it easier to produce legal medical weed

Canada just made it a lot easier for companies to get licenses to produce medical marijuana — something industry experts predict will significantly boost the country’s cannabis supply and potentially result in hundreds of new companies entering the system ahead of the legal recreational market next year.

There are currently 428 companies in the queue applying to become licensed cannabis producers (or “LPs”).

On Friday, Health Canada announced in a news release it had streamlined the notoriously lengthy and rigorous application process to become an LP. The new measures will “enable increased production,” the department stated. Since the licensing program came into effect in 2013, there have been 45 medical marijuana production licenses granted, the most recent of which was granted this week.